[applause] my name is joe biden. i am married to jill biden. she is a teacher. it is such an honor to be here. thank you so much for being here. where is councilman rich? good to see you. also, rod smith, chairman of the democratic party in florida. [applause] the amazing greece nelson. -- grace nelson. i have never met any woman who cares more and fights more in protecting the state of florida than grace nelson. great to be with you. [applause] this morning i was on call for several days ever since sandy hit the northeast. look, i now that for a northeastern boy to talk about hurricanes to floridians is like burning coal to newcastle, but you know what those folks are going through. every morning, the president and i have a call with all the administration officials, from fema to homeland security to the department of defense. we talk with all the governors in the affected states as well as an awful lot of the mayors. i can tell you confidently that the federal government, state government, local government, they are doing everything in their power to coordinat